Mary Dunn Road residents object to any talk of betterment charges

What are the odds of Mary Dunn Road’s improvement being paid for by betterments from the local property owners? You might say they’re 6,350 to 33.

Edward F. Maroney

What are the odds of Mary Dunn Road’s improvement being paid for by betterments from the local property owners? You might say they’re 6,350 to 33.

That’s 6,350 vehicle trips per day on the twisting yet handy route between Route 6A and Independence Park, and 33 as in the number of residences along it.

The town councilors at the June 9 public meeting about the road told the 20 residents gathered at Sturgis Library they realized that their audience wasn’t responsible for all those trips. But, they said, work has to be done to keep Mary Dunn Road from failing.

Residents who spoke agreed that help is needed, but some balked at the options being considered, including betterment payments, a debt exclusion or capital exclusion from the 2 ½ percent tax levy limit, or a municipal stabilization fund supported by a dedicated tax.

Resident Paul Sheehan criticized the council sharply for considering such funding mechanisms when, in his opinion, it should have budgeted money for the work.

Mary Dunn is one of the town’s public-private roads that a town council roads subcommittee has focused on as an important transportation route. The town is not obligated to maintain private roads, but Mary Dunn’s heavy use has convinced some that a taking may be necessary to maintain safe passage for emergency vehicles.

Councilors Ann Canedy of Barnstable, Jim Crocker of Osterville, Leah Curtis of Marstons Mills and Hank Farnham of West Barnstable were on hand with representatives of the DPW and the town attorney’s office to lay out the reasons for taking Mary Dunn Road and the consequences of action and inaction.

“When a road becomes public and is accepted by the town,” said Curtis, the subcommittee’s chairman, “the town has responsibility for its care and maintenance. With a private road, care and maintenance is the responsibility of the abutters as people who live on the road.”

Even so, Curtis noted, the town has tried to be a good neighbor by plowing and sanding private roads.

Mary dunn is a public road, roughly, from Route 6A to the train tracks.

Farnham spoke of what he called “the magnitude of the issue.” Of the 1,800 roads in town, he said, representing about 460 miles, there are 1,100 private roads, covering 190 miles. Forty percent of the town lives on private roads, he said.

Over the next five years, Farnham said, the town plans to spend $80 million on capital projects – but requests for that period total $360 million.

“We need your input,” he said.

Speakers made it clear that saddling 33 owners (as well as four business owners) with betterments to pay for improvements on a road that sees thousands of trips per day was a non-starter. “We pretty much rejected 100 percent betterments for Mary Dunn,” Canedy said.

Some residents wondered whether work on the road would be an improvement for them.

“I grew up on Mary Dunn Road,” said Ken Jansson. “As a child, I used to play with my trucks on the road. I was lucky to see four cars a day.”

When Route 6 was completed, Jansson recalled, “they made a straightway underneath that was a drag strip.” Over time, he said, property values have declined.

Jansson objected strongly to being charged a betterment fee, and Canedy said the committee would take that strong message back to the full council.

Near meeting’s end, Sheehan sounded as if he’d like to take the message back in time, too. “I like the selectmen,” the council critic said, referring to Barnstable’s previous form of government.

“I do too,” said someone else. It could have been one of the councilors at the front of the room, but this reporter was too slow to verify that.